Cellular communications networks are arranged into a network of cells. During operation, a wireless communication device can move between coverage areas of cells due to mobility. As such, the wireless communication device can transition (e.g., through handover) its network connection from one cell to another when moving between cells in a mobility scenario.
Each cell (e.g., a base station associated with the cell) in a cellular communications network can broadcast system information, such as on a Broadcast Channel (BCH). Currently, a wireless communication device reads all system information broadcast by a cell upon transitioning to a new cell. Reading system information can be a relatively time consuming process, which can increase power consumption by a wireless communication device. When a device is stationary or otherwise transitions between cells only relatively infrequently, this overhead may not be a significant problem, as the device may not have to frequently read system information. However, when a device rapidly transitions between cells, such as when in a state of fast mobility, the device has to read system information with increased frequency, resulting in increased overhead and reduced idle state battery life.
Modern cellular radio access technologies (RATs), such as LTE, have implemented reduced cell sizes to provide higher throughput capability and high-band spectrum deployment. Moreover, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has introduced the concept of small cells in Release 11 (R11) of LTE, by which small cells, such as femtocells, picocells, and microcells, can be co-deployed with and integrated into a network of standard cells (e.g., macrocells and/or other cells covering a wider area than small cells) within a cellular communications network. The smaller cell size used in LTE and other modern cellular RATs in combination with the integration of small cells has resulted in an increased frequency of cell reselection. Power consumption and overhead for wireless communication devices operating on such networks have accordingly been increased due to the increased amount of system information that is read due to the increased reselection frequency.